UFC 217 Gate, Attendance, Bonuses

UFC 217 may just go down as one of the biggest night’s in the promotion’s history, as three new champions were crowned, headlined by the returning Georges St-Pierre winning the UFC Middleweight Championship after a four-year layoff.

UFC 217 also turned out to be a fine night financial-wise for the leading MMA promotion in the world, as well. At the post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White announced an attendance of 18,201, producing a gate of $6.2 million.

White furthermore stated that it appeared UFC 217 managed to break over a million pay-per-view buys, and that this event may have done more buys in Canada than the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather money fight.

In what may be a first for the promotion, no Fight of the Night bonus was given. Rather, five athletes were rewarded with $25,000 performance bonuses. The five athletes in question include GSP, Rose Namajunas, T.J. Dillashaw, Ovince Saint Preux and Ricardo Ramos.

Georges St-Pierre returned at this event, his first time in a UFC Octagon in almost exactly four years. He choked out Michael Bisping in the third round of their main event bout to become the fourth fighter in promotional history to win a title in two different weight classes.

This was also the first time in promotional history where three new champions were crowned. Dillashaw scored a second-round knockout of Cody Garbrandt to win the UFC Bantamweight Championship, becoming a two-time champion in the process. Namajunas made history in her own right, winning the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship and becoming the first to stop and defeat Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

On the prelims, Saint Preux scored a big knockout victory over Corey Anderson with a high kick in the third round, while Ramos opened the show with a spinning elbow that knocked out Aiemann Zahabi.